Systems and methods for determining redemption time

ABSTRACT

Systems, apparatus, and methods for providing a promotion to a consumer group are discussed herein. Some embodiments may include a system including circuitry configured to create a group promotion by associating the promotion with a plurality of consumer account records of consumers. For example, the group promotion may be defined by a consumer device. The circuitry may be further configured to determine a group sale threshold for the group promotion, a group sale count indicating a number of the consumers that has purchased and/or agreed to purchase the group promotion, and whether the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold. In response to determining that the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold, the circuitry may be configured to associate a group discount value for the group promotion with each of the plurality of consumer accounts records, thereby facilitating network-based consumer device event planning.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/910,620, titled “Systems and Methods for Determining RedemptionTime,” which was filed on Jun. 24, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/466,816, titled “Systems and Methods ForProviding Group Promotions,” which was filed on Aug. 22, 2014, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/869,033, titled “Systems and Methods for Providing Group Promotions,”filed Aug. 22, 2013, which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to techniques forproviding promotions to groups of consumers.

BACKGROUND

Via electronic networks (e.g., the Internet), promotional systemsprovide promotions associated with merchants to consumer devices.Oftentimes, two or more of the consumers may be interested inparticipating in a promotion as a group. Furthermore, merchants may bemore willing to offer promotional rewards or discounts to largerconsumer groups, but lack the means for efficient negotiation withindividual consumers or consumer groups. In this regard, areas forimproving current systems have been identified.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, solutions to improvesuch systems have been realized and are described herein. Someembodiments may provide for a system configured to provide a promotionto a consumer group including multiple consumers. The system may includeone or more servers and one or more databases of consumer accountrecords. The one or more servers may be configured to: receive grouppromotion data indicating a plurality of consumer accounts of a databaseof consumer account records and a promotion from a first consumer deviceassociated with a first consumer account record of the plurality ofconsumer account records; create the group promotion by associating thepromotion data defining the promotion with the plurality of consumeraccount records based on the group promotion data; determine a groupsale threshold for the group promotion; provide an impression of thegroup promotion to the consumer devices via the network, the impressionincluding a user interface configured to receive consumer device inputsindicating a purchase agreement; determine, based on the consumer deviceinputs received from the consumer devices via the user interface, agroup sale count indicating a number of the consumers that has providedthe purchase agreement; determine whether the group sale count satisfiesthe group sale threshold; and in response to determining that the groupsale count satisfies the group sale threshold, associate a groupdiscount value with each of the plurality of consumer accounts recordsof the database.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to associate thegroup discount value with each of the plurality of consumer accountrecords may include the one or more servers being configured to:determine at least one purchased consumer account record of theplurality of consumer accounts records of a consumer that has purchasedthe group promotion; and provide the group discount value as a creditfor at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the atleast one purchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to associate thegroup discount value with each of the plurality of consumer accountrecords includes the one or more servers being configured to: determineat least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality ofconsumer account records of a consumer that has purchased the grouppromotion; and provide the group discount value as a refund for at leasta portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least onepurchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to associate thegroup discount value with each of the plurality of consumer accountrecords includes the one or more servers being configured to: determineat least one unpurchased consumer account record of the plurality ofconsumer account records of a consumer that has failed to purchase thegroup promotion; and provide the group discount value as a discountedpurchase price for the group promotion to the at least one unpurchasedconsumer account record.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers are further configured todetermine the group discount value based on the group sale count.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configuredto provide the impression of the group promotion to a second consumerdevice associated with a second consumer account record that isdifferent from the plurality of consumer account records.

In some embodiments, the impression may include an indication of atleast one of the group sale threshold, the group sale count, a proposedgroup redemption time, and a group redemption time for the grouppromotion.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configuredto: receive, from the first consumer device associated with the firstconsumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records,group data indicating a telephone number of another consumer record ofthe plurality of consumer records; and send a text message notificationof the group promotion to a second consumer device associated with theanother consumer record based on the telephone number.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configuredto: provide one or more proposed group redemption times to the consumerdevices associated with the plurality of consumer account records;receive redemption time data from the consumer devices indicatingavailability of consumers for the one or more proposed group redemptiontimes; determine a group redemption time for the group promotion basedat least in part on the redemption time data; and provide the groupredemption time to a merchant device to facilitate creation of areservation.

In some embodiments, the user interface may include an interface fordiscussing the group promotion, the user interface further including amessage feed configured to provide one or more of consumer messages andgroup promotion status updates to the consumer devices.

Some embodiments may provide for a machine-implemented method ofproviding promotion data to networked consumer devices associated with aconsumer group. The method may include: receiving, by one or moreservers, group promotion data indicating a plurality of consumeraccounts of a database of consumer account records and a promotion froma first consumer device associated with a first consumer account recordof the plurality of consumer account records; creating, by the one ormore servers, the group promotion by associating the promotion datadefining the promotion with the plurality of consumer account recordsbased on the group promotion data; determining, by the one or moreservers, a group sale threshold for the group promotion; providing, bythe one or more servers, an impression of the group promotion to theconsumer devices via the network, the impression including a userinterface configured to receive consumer device inputs indicating apurchase agreement for the group promotion; determining, based on theconsumer device inputs received from the consumer devices via the userinterface and by the one or more servers, a group sale count indicatinga number of the consumers that have provided the purchase agreement;determining, by the one or more servers, whether the group sale countsatisfies the group sale threshold; and in response to determining thatthe group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold, associating, bythe one or more servers, a group discount value with each of theplurality of consumer account records of the database.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each ofthe plurality of consumer account records may include: determining atleast one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumeraccount records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion;and providing the group discount as a credit for at least a portion of apurchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumeraccount record.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each ofthe plurality of consumer account records may include: determining atleast one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumeraccount records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion;and providing the group discount value as a refund for at least aportion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least onepurchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each ofthe plurality of consumer account records may include: determining atleast one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumeraccount records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion;and providing the group discount value as a refund for at least aportion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least onepurchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each ofthe plurality of consumer account records may include: determining atleast one unpurchased consumer account record of the plurality ofconsumer account records of a consumer that has failed to purchase thegroup promotion; and providing the group discount value as a discountedpurchase price for the group promotion to the at least one unpurchasedconsumer account record.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by theone or more servers, the group discount value based on the group salecount.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing, by theone or more servers, the impression of the group promotion to a secondconsumer device associated with a second consumer account recorddifferent from the plurality of consumer account records.

In some embodiments, the impression may include an indication of atleast one of the group sale threshold, the group sale count, a proposedgroup redemption time, and a group redemption time for the grouppromotion.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the one or moreservers: receiving, from the first consumer device associated with thefirst consumer account record of the plurality of consumer accountrecords, group data indicating a telephone number of another consumerrecord of the plurality of consumer records; and sending a text messagenotification of the group promotion to a second consumer deviceassociated with the another consumer record based on the telephonenumber.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the one or moreservers: providing one or more proposed group redemption times to theconsumer devices associated with the plurality of consumer accountrecords; receiving redemption time data from the consumer devicesindicating availability of consumers for the one or more proposed groupredemption times; determining a group redemption time for the grouppromotion based at least in part on the redemption time data; andproviding the group redemption time to a merchant device to facilitatecreation of a reservation.

In some embodiments, the user interface may include an interface fordiscussing the group promotion. The user interface may further include amessage feed configured to provide one or more of consumer messages andgroup promotion status updates.

Some embodiments may provide for an apparatus configured to providepromotion data to networked consumer devices associated with a consumergroup. The apparatus may include circuitry configured to: create a grouppromotion by associating promotion data defining a promotion with aplurality of consumer account records of a database of consumer accountrecords; determine a group sale threshold for the group promotion;determine, based on consumer device inputs received from the consumerdevices via the network, a group sale count indicating a number of theconsumers that has provided a purchase agreement for the grouppromotion; determine whether the group sale count satisfies the groupsale threshold; in response to determining that the group sale countsatisfies the group sale threshold, associate a group discount valuewith each of the plurality of consumer accounts records of the database;determine at least one purchased consumer account record of theplurality of consumer accounts records of a consumer that has purchasedthe group promotion; provide the group discount value as a credit for atleast a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at leastone purchased consumer account record; determine at least oneunpurchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer accountrecords of a consumer that has failed to purchase the group promotion;and provide the group discount value as a discounted purchase price forthe group promotion to the at least one unpurchased consumer accountrecord.

Some embodiments may include circuitry and/or media configured toimplement the methods and/or other functionality discussed herein. Forexample, one or more processors, and/or other machine components may beconfigured to implement the functionality discussed herein based oninstructions and/or other data stored in memory and/or othernon-transitory computer readable media.

These characteristics as well as additional features, functions, anddetails of various embodiments are described below. Similarly,corresponding and additional embodiments are also described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described some embodiments in general terms, reference willnow be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarilydrawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an example system in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 2 shows example circuitry in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 3 shows an example of a method for providing a group promotion to aconsumer group in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a method for providing a group discount of agroup promotion in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method for determining a group redemptiontime based on a poll, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 6 shows an example of a method for providing a group promotion to aconsumer group based on a group promotion identifier in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 7 shows an example of an impression in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 8 shows an example promotion display in accordance with someembodiments;

FIGS. 9 and 10 show example add consumer displays in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 11 shows an example group promotion creation display in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 12 shows an example redemption date listing in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 13 shows group promotion creation display including one or moreproposed group redemption times in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 14 shows group promotion creation display including one or moreproposed group redemption times in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 15 shows an example group promotion creation display in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 16 shows an example consumer application home display in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 17 shows an example group promotion membership display inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 18 shows an example group discussion interface, in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 19 shows an example of a text message in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 20 shows an example impression in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 21 shows an example group discussion interface in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 22 shows an example impression in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 23 shows an example group discussion interface in accordance withsome embodiments; and

FIG. 24 shows an example polling interface in accordance with someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments will be described more fully hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodimentscontemplated herein are shown. Indeed, various embodiments may beimplemented in many different forms and should not be construed aslimited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodimentsare provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legalrequirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similarterms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of beingcaptured, transmitted, received, displayed and/or stored in accordancewith various example embodiments. Thus, use of any such terms should notbe taken to limit the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Further, wherea device is described herein to receive data from another device, itwill be appreciated that the data may be received directly from theanother device or may be received indirectly via one or moreintermediary devices, such as, for example, one or more servers, relays,routers, network access points, base stations, and/or the like,sometimes referred to herein as a “network.” Similarly, where a deviceis described herein to send data to another device, it will beappreciated that the data may be sent directly to the another device ormay be sent indirectly via one or more intermediary devices, such as,for example, one or more servers, relays, routers, network accesspoints, base stations, and/or the like.

As used herein, the term “method” refers to one or more steps that maybe performed by a device, apparatus, system, circuitry, one or moreprocessors, or the like. Where an example method is shown as includingmore than one step, it will be appreciated that the steps may beperformed in different orders than as shown in the example and that notall steps are necessarily required. Furthermore, the methods aredescribed herein as being performed by example structures for clarityand are not limited to those structures (e.g., a particular server,device, apparatus, etc.) in some embodiments.

Brief Overview

Methods, systems, apparatus and computer program products describedherein are operable for providing promotions to consumer groups. A“promotion,” as used herein, may include, but is not limited to, anytype of offered, presented or otherwise indicated reward, discount,coupon, credit, deal, incentive, discount, media or the like that isindicative of a promotional value or the like that upon purchase oracceptance results in the issuance of an instrument that may be usedtoward at least a portion of the purchase of particular goods, servicesand/or experiences defined by the promotion.

In some embodiments, consumers using networked consumer devices may beallowed to define a group promotion for sharing with other consumers. A“group promotion,” as used herein, refers to a promotion that has beenassociated with a consumer group, or a group of consumer account recordsof a database. For example, the system may be configured to receivegroup promotion data that defines the group promotion from a consumerdevice via the network, such as the underlying promotion of the grouppromotion and/or the members of the consumer group to be associated withthe group promotion.

Some embodiments may provide for group planning capabilities fromend-to-end, such as from discovery of the promotion by a first consumer,to invitation of other consumers to participate in the group promotion,to facilitating payments, and finally to making reservations (e.g., at adine-in restaurant) when appropriate. For example, in some embodiments,a system may be configured to provide user interfaces to consumerdevices that allow consumers to discuss the group promotion. Forexample, consumers can post messages and receive messages from otherconsumers via a discussion or message feed interface, such as forplanning and organizing activities where group promotions can beredeemed as a group (e.g., a promotion for dinner at a dine-inrestaurant). In some embodiments, the system may be configured tofacilitate the planning. For example, a poll including one or moreproposed group redemption times may be sent to consumers of the consumergroup and a group redemption time may be determined based on the answersprovided by the consumers. In some embodiments, the system may befurther configured to provide scheduling and/or reservationfunctionalities. For example, available group redemption times may belimited by the capacity of the merchant at a particular time.Additionally and/or alternatively, the system may be configured toschedule a reservation with a merchant after the group redemption timehas been determined.

Some embodiments may provide for techniques for determining a group salethreshold for the group promotion. The group sale threshold may indicatea number of purchases of the promotion (and/or agreements to purchasethe promotion) that must be exceeded by members of the consumer groupbefore a group discount and/or other incentive may be awarded. Upon theconsumer group successfully exceeding the group sale threshold, thesystem may award the group discount to the consumer group. For example,purchased consumers (and/or purchased consumer accounts of the purchasedconsumers) of the consumer group that have already purchased thepromotion may be provided with a credit and/or refund. In anotherexample, unpurchased consumers (and/or unpurchased consumer accounts ofthe unpurchased consumers) of the consumer group that has not purchasedthe promotion may be provided with an opportunity to purchase thepromotion at a discounted purchase price. In a third example, the groupsale threshold may be based on the number of consumers that has simplyagreed to purchase the promotion. Here, when the group sale threshold isexceeded, each consumer that has agreed to purchase the promotion may becharged a discounted purchase price. In that sense, some embodiments mayprovide for incentives to consumers to share the group promotion suchthat the group sale threshold can be exceeded. In some embodiments, aconsumer may be allowed to set the group sale threshold and larger groupsale thresholds may be encouraged via a discounted purchase price thatvaries based on the user defined group sale threshold.

In some embodiments, the system may be configured to provide animpression of the promotion and/or group promotion to consumer devices,such as for advertising or otherwise communicating the group promotion.An “impression,” as used herein, may include a communication, a display,or other perceived indication, such as a flyer, print media, e-mail,text message, application alert, mobile applications, other type ofelectronic interface or distribution channel and/or the like, of one ormore promotions and/or group promotions. In some embodiments, theimpression of the group promotion may include an interface or areference to an interface for discussing, purchasing, accepting and/orredeeming the group promotion.

Exemplary System Architecture

FIG. 1 shows an example system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.System 100 may include promotion and marketing system 102 (or “system102”), network 104, consumer device 106, and merchant device 108. System102 may be communicably connected with consumer device 106 and merchantdevice 108 via network 104. System 102 may include server 110 anddatabase 112.

Server 110 may include circuitry, networked processors, or the likeconfigured to perform some or all of the server-based processesdescribed herein and may be any suitable network server and/or othertype of processing device. In some embodiments, system 102 may functionas a “cloud” with respect to the consumer device 106 and/or merchantdevice 108. In that sense, server 110 may include several serversperforming interconnected and/or distributed functions. To avoidunnecessarily overcomplicating the disclosure, server 110 is shown anddescribed herein as a single server.

Database 112 may be any suitable network storage device configured tostore some or all of the information described herein. For example,database 112 may be configured to store consumer information and/orpromotion information. As such, database 112 may include, for example,one or more database systems, backend data servers, network databases,cloud storage devices, etc. To avoid unnecessarily overcomplicating thedisclosure, database 112 is shown and described herein as a singledatabase.

Network 104 may include one or more wired and/or wireless communicationnetworks including, for example, a wired or wireless local area network(LAN), personal area network (PAN), metropolitan area network (MAN),wide area network (WAN), or the like, as well as any hardware, softwareand/or firmware for implementing the one or more networks (such as,e.g., network routers, switches, hubs, etc.). For example, network 104may include a cellular telephone, mobile broadband, long term evolution(LTE), GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, WiFi,dial-up, and/or WiMax network. Furthermore, network 104 may include apublic network, such as the Internet, a private network, such as anintranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize a variety ofnetworking protocols now available or later developed including, but notlimited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

Consumer device 106 may be associated with a consumer and/or consumeraccount, such as a consumer with a consumer account provided by system102. Although a single consumer device 106 is shown, system 100 mayinclude any number of consumer devices that may be associated withvarious other consumers and/or consumer accounts. Consumer device 106may be a mobile device and/or a stationary device. For example, consumerdevice 106 may be a mobile device such as a cellular telephone(including smartphones and/or other types of mobile telephones), laptop,tablet, electronic reader, e-book device, media device, and/or the like.Additionally and/or alternatively, consumer device 106 may be astationary device such as a desktop computer, work station,point-of-sale device, or the like.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to receive grouppromotion data indicating a plurality of consumer accounts that definesa consumer group from a consumer device 106. The group promotion datamay further indicate a promotion for which server 110 may be configuredto associate with the consumer group.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide anincentive to the consumers of the consumer group to purchase thepromotion. For example, server 110 may be configured to associate agroup discount with each of the plurality of consumer accounts, such asin response to determining that a group sale count for the promotionexceeds a group sale threshold for the promotion. The group salethreshold may indicate a number of consumers of the consumer group thatmust purchase the promotion, as defined by the group sale count, beforethe group discount may be applied to one or more consumers of theconsumer group. In some embodiments, the group sale discount may beawarded in the form of a credit to consumer accounts and/or a refund,such as for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion. Insome embodiments, server 110 may be further configured to facilitatepromotion sharing between consumers of the consumer group, groupredemption planning, event planning, among other things.

Merchant device 108 may be associated with a merchant and/or provider ofpromotions. Although a single merchant device 108 is shown, system 100may include any number of merchant devices that may be associated withvarious other merchants. In some embodiments, merchant device 108 may beconfigured to provide point-of-sale (POS) functionality for themerchant, such as at the merchant's shop. Furthermore, merchant device108 may be a stationary and/or mobile device. In some embodiments,system 102 may be configured to receive promotion data indicating apromotion for goods and/or services and/or one or more parameters of thepromotion (e.g., target audience, timing, purchase value, promotionalvalue, residual value, etc.). System 102 may then generate and/orprovide one or more impressions for the promotion to consumer device102.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry 200, some orall of which may be included in system 102, server 110, database 112,user device 106, and merchant device 108. In accordance with someexample embodiments, circuitry 200 may include various means, such asone or more processors 202, memories 204, communications modules 206,and/or input/output modules 208.

In some embodiments, such as when circuitry 200 is included in system102, group promotion module 210 may also or instead be included. Asreferred to herein, “module” includes hardware, software and/or firmwareconfigured to perform one or more particular functions. In this regard,the means of circuitry 200 as described herein may be embodied as, forexample, circuitry, hardware elements (e.g., a suitably programmedprocessor, combinational logic circuit, integrated circuit, and/or thelike), a computer program product comprising computer-readable programinstructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g.,memory 204) that is executable by a suitably configured processingdevice (e.g., processor 202), or some combination thereof.

Processor 202 may, for example, be embodied as various means includingone or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signalprocessor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digitalsignal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-coreprocessors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or morecomputers, various other processing elements including integratedcircuits such as, for example, an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit) or FPGA (field programmable gate array), or some combinationthereof. Accordingly, although illustrated in FIG. 2 as a singleprocessor, in some embodiments, processor 202 may comprise a pluralityof processing means. The plurality of processing means may be embodiedon a single computing device or may be distributed across a plurality ofcomputing devices collectively configured to function as circuitry 200.The plurality of processing means may be in operative communication witheach other and may be collectively configured to perform one or morefunctionalities of circuitry 200 as described herein. In an exampleembodiment, processor 202 may be configured to execute instructionsstored in memory 204 or otherwise accessible to processor 202. Theseinstructions, when executed by processor 202, may cause circuitry 200 toperform one or more of the functionalities described herein.

Whether configured by hardware, firmware/software methods, or by acombination thereof, processor 202 may comprise an entity capable ofperforming operations according to embodiments of the present inventionwhile configured accordingly. Thus, for example, when processor 202 isembodied as an ASIC, FPGA or the like, processor 202 may comprisespecifically configured hardware for conducting one or more operationsdescribed herein. As another example, when processor 202 may be embodiedas an executor of instructions, such as may be stored in memory 204, theinstructions may specifically configure processor 202 to perform one ormore algorithms, methods or operations described herein. For example,processor 202 may be configured to execute operating systemapplications, firmware applications, media playback applications, mediaediting applications, among other things.

Memory 204 may comprise, for example, volatile memory, non-volatilememory, or some combination thereof. Although illustrated in FIG. 2 as asingle memory, memory 204 may comprise a plurality of memory components.The plurality of memory components may be embodied on a single computingcomponent or distributed across a plurality of computing components. Invarious embodiments, memory 204 may comprise, for example, a hard disk,random access memory, cache memory, flash memory, a compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM), solid state memory, digital versatile disc readonly memory (DVD-ROM), an optical disc, circuitry configured to storeinformation, integrated circuitry, chemical/biological memory, paper, orsome combination thereof. Memory 204 may be configured to storeinformation, data, applications, instructions, or the like for enablingcircuitry 200 to carry out various functions in accordance with exampleembodiments discussed herein. For example, in at least some embodiments,memory 204 may be configured to buffer input data for processing byprocessor 202. Additionally or alternatively, in at least someembodiments, memory 204 may be configured to store program instructionsfor execution by processor 202 and/or data for processing by processor202. Memory 204 may store information in the form of static and/ordynamic information. This stored information may be stored and/or usedby circuitry 200 during the course of performing its functionalities.

Communications module 206 may be embodied as any component or meansembodied in circuitry, hardware, a computer program product comprisingcomputer readable program instructions stored on a computer readablemedium (e.g., memory 204) and executed by a processing device (e.g.,processor 202), or a combination thereof that is configured to receiveand/or transmit data from/to another device, such as, for example, asecond circuitry 200 and/or the like. In some embodiments,communications module 206 (like other components discussed herein) canbe at least partially embodied as or otherwise controlled by processor202. In this regard, communications module 206 may be in communicationwith processor 202, such as via a bus. Communications module 206 mayinclude, for example, an antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, atransceiver, network interface card and/or supporting hardware and/orfirmware/software for enabling communications. Communications module 206may be configured to receive and/or transmit any data that may be storedby memory 204 using any protocol that may be used for communications.Communications module 206 may additionally and/or alternatively be incommunication with the memory 204, input/output module 208 and/or anyother component of circuitry 200, such as via a bus. Communicationsmodule 206 may be configured to use one or more communications protocolssuch as, for example, short messaging service (SMS), Wi-Fi (e.g., a802.11 protocol, Bluetooth, etc.), radio frequency systems (e.g., 900MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 5.6 GHz communication systems), infrared, GSM, GSMplus EDGE, CDMA, quadband, and other cellular protocols, VOIP, or anyother suitable protocol

Input/output module 208 may be in communication with processor 202 toreceive an indication of an input and/or to provide an audible, visual,mechanical, or other output. In that sense, input/output module 208 mayinclude means for performing analog-to-digital and/or digital-to-analogdata conversions. Input/output module 208 may include support, forexample, for a display, touch screen, keyboard, button, click wheel,mouse, joystick, an image capturing device, microphone, speaker,biometric scanner, and/or other input/output mechanisms. In embodimentswhere circuitry 200 may be implemented as a server or database, aspectsof input/output module 208 may be reduced as compared to embodimentswhere circuitry 200 may be implemented as an end-user machine or othertype of device designed for complex user interactions. In someembodiments (like other components discussed herein), input/outputmodule 208 may even be eliminated from circuitry 200. Alternatively,such as in embodiments wherein circuitry 200 is embodied as a server ordatabase, at least some aspects of input/output module 208 may beembodied on an apparatus used by a user that is in communication withcircuitry 200. Input/output module 208 may be in communication withmemory 204, communications module 206, and/or any other component(s),such as via a bus. Although more than one input/output module and/orother component can be included in circuitry 200, only one is shown inFIG. 2 to avoid overcomplicating the disclosure (e.g., like the othercomponents discussed herein).

In some embodiments, group promotion module 210 may also or instead beincluded and configured to perform the functionality discussed hereinrelated providing group promotions. In some embodiments, some or all ofthe functionality of group promotion module 210 may be performed byprocessor 202. In this regard, the example processes and algorithmsdiscussed herein can be performed by at least one processor 202 and/orgroup promotion module 210. For example, non-transitory computerreadable storage media can be configured to store firmware, one or moreapplication programs, and/or other software, which include instructionsand other computer-readable program code portions that can be executedto control processors of the components of system 200 to implementvarious operations, including the examples shown herein. As such, aseries of computer-readable program code portions may be embodied in oneor more computer program products and can be used, with a device,server, database, and/or other programmable apparatus, to produce themachine-implemented processes discussed herein.

Any such computer program instructions and/or other type of code may beloaded onto a computer, processor or other programmable apparatus'scircuitry to produce a machine, such that the computer, processor otherprogrammable circuitry that executes the code may be the means forimplementing various functions, including those described herein. Insome embodiments, one or more external systems (such as a remote cloudcomputing and/or data storage system) may also be leveraged to provideat least some of the functionality discussed herein.

As described above and as will be appreciated based on this disclosure,various embodiments may be implemented as methods, mediums, devices,servers, databases, systems, and the like. Accordingly, embodiments maycomprise various means including entirely of hardware or any combinationof software and hardware. Furthermore, embodiments may take the form ofa computer program product on at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable programinstructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storage medium.Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized includingnon-transitory hard disks, CD/DVD-ROMs, flash memory, optical storagedevices, quantum storage devices, chemical storage devices, biologicalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, etc.

Embodiments have been described above with reference to block diagramsof components, such as functional modules, system components andcircuitry. Below is a discussion of an example process flowchartsdescribing functionality that may be implemented by one or morecomponents discussed above. Each block of the block diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks diagrams and process flowcharts,respectively, can be implemented by various means including computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may be loadedonto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, such as processor 202, toproduce a machine, such that the computer program product includes theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to create a means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage device (e.g., memory 204) that can direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage device produce an article of manufactureincluding computer-readable instructions for implementing the functiondiscussed herein. The computer program instructions may also be loadedonto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions discussed herein.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and programinstruction means for performing the specified functions. It will alsobe understood that each block of the block diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and processflowcharts, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedcomputer systems that perform the specified functions or steps, orcombinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Providing Group Promotions

FIG. 3 shows an example of a method 300 for providing a group promotionto a consumer group, in accordance with some embodiments. Method 300 isdescribed as being performed by system 102 (e.g., server 110), however,other suitable structures (e.g., one or more servers, a networkeddevice, hardware, software, firmware, circuitry, etc.) may also be usedin various embodiments.

Method 300 may begin at 302 and proceed to 304, where server 110 may beconfigured to provide promotions to consumers, such as on an individualbasis. For example, server 110 may be configured to receive thepromotion data for the promotion, the promotion, and/or an impression ofthe promotion from merchant device 108. An impression may then begenerated based on the promotion data and/or provided to consumer device106. Upon a consumer purchasing and/or accepting the promotion, theconsumer may be provided an instrument that may be used (e.g., with themerchant) toward at least a portion of the purchase of particular goods,services and/or experiences defined by the promotion. An “instrument,”as used herein, may include, but is not limited to, any type of giftcard, tender, electronic certificate, medium of exchange, voucher, orthe like that embodies the terms of the promotion from which theinstrument resulted and may be used toward at least a portion of thepurchase, acquisition, procurement, consumption or the like of goods,services and/or experiences. In some examples, the instrument may takethe form of tender that has a given value that is exchangeable forgoods, services and/or experiences and/or a reduction in a purchaseprice of a particular good, service or experience.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an impression 700, in accordance with someembodiments. Impression 700 is an example of a user interface thatincludes an indication of one or more promotions that may be provided toconsumer devices, such as upon accessing a mobile application and/or aweb browser on the consumer devices. While the interface of impression700 (as well as some of the other displays discussed herein) is adaptedfor consumer use via a mobile device application (e.g., employing atouchscreen for receiving user inputs), other interfaces adapted forother devices (e.g., tablets, desktops, laptops, etc.) and/or othercommunication channels (e.g., SMS text. Email, etc.) may be used. Asshown in FIG. 7, impression 700 may include a plurality of promotions,such as promotions 702 and 704 (fully viewable upon scrolling down, butnot fully shown in FIG. 7).

In addition or alternative to allowing consumers to purchase and/orredeem promotions individually, server 110 may be configured to allowconsumers to define group promotions. At 306, server 110 may beconfigured to receive group promotion data indicating a plurality ofconsumer accounts and a promotion from a first consumer deviceassociated with a first consumer account. For example, the grouppromotion data may indicate consumer intent to define a group promotionfor a consumer group including the first consumer and one or more otherconsumers. In another example, the group promotion data received fromthe first consumer device may indicate only consumers and/or consumeraccounts other than the first consumer or a first consumer account ofthe first user. Server 110 may be further configured to generate thegroup promotion data to include the first consumer and/or first consumeraccount within the consumer group.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to receive the grouppromotion data from consumer device 106 via an application executing onconsumer device 106. Additionally and/or alternatively, server 110 maybe configured to provide an on-demand group promotion service toconsumer device 106 that provides a user interface for submitting thegroup promotion data to consumer device 106. For example, consumerdevice 106 may be configured as a thin client that displays graphicaloutputs generated by server 110 and/or send user inputs received byconsumer device 106 (e.g., from a touch screen or other user inputdevice) to server 110 for consumer interaction with the on-demand grouppromotion service.

FIG. 8 shows an example promotion display 800, in accordance with someembodiments. In some embodiments, promotion display 800 (which may alsoinclude an impression indicating the promotion) may be displayed inresponse to the first consumer selecting the promotion in impression700, such as by the selection of promotion 702. Promotion display 800may include some or all of the promotion data in impression 700, and insome embodiments, may include additional details such as price, discountamount, promotion availability, and a more detailed description. Thefirst consumer may be allowed to purchase the promotion, such as on anindividual basis, by selecting buy selection 802. The consumer may alsobe allowed to create a group promotion based on promotion 800, such asby selecting group promotion selection 804.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show example add consumer displays 900 and 1000, inaccordance with some embodiments. Add consumer displays 900 and 1000 maybe provided to the first consumer device to allow the first consumerdevice to select and/or otherwise specify consumers for addition to theconsumer group. For example, the consumer may be allowed to enter thename, phone number, email, and/or other identifying and/or contactinformation of consumers to be added to the consumer group at consumerentry 902. In some embodiments, as shown add consumer display 1000,server 110 and/or consumer device 106 may be configured to look upconsumers associated with the first consumer based on what is entered inconsumer entry 902. For example, server 110 may be configured to accessconsumer data indicating the identity and/or contact information ofconsumers associated with the first consumer, such as the firstconsumer's friends or acquaintances (e.g., as may be stored in a socialnetworking system, system 102, and/or consumer device 106 (e.g., usercontacts)) to facilitate the entry of the group promotion data. Theconsumer information may be provided to automatically populate aselectable consumer list, such as consumer list 1002, based on the entryat consumer entry 902.

FIG. 15 shows an example group promotion creation display 1500, inaccordance with some embodiments. Group promotion creation display 1500is another example of a user interface that may be provided to aconsumer device to facilitate the generating and/or sending of the grouppromotion data to server 110. For example, the first consumer may definethe plurality of consumer accounts for the consumer group by providingconsumer contact information (e.g., phone number, email address,consumer account username, consumer name, social media account, socialnetworking system account, etc.) of the plurality consumers at consumersearch input 1502. In response to receiving the consumer contactinformation, server 110 may be configured to provide consumer list 1504including one or more consumers that most closely match the consumercontact information. Via consumer list 1504, the first consumer may beallowed to select one or more consumers for inclusion within theconsumer group, which may be indicated at consumer group membershipdisplay 1506. In some embodiments, where no matching consumer account isidentified (e.g., based on the entry at consumer search input 1502),server 110 may be configured to generate a placeholder account based onthe consumer contact information.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide recommendedconsumers for inclusion within the consumer group. For example, grouppromotion creation display 1500 may include consumer recommendation list1508 configured to provide one or more recommended consumers forinclusion within the consumer group. In some embodiments, server 110 maybe configured to determine the one or more recommended consumers basedon promotion relevance. For example, the good, service, and/orexperience defined by the group promotion may be compared with consumerdata indicating consumer purchases, preferences, interests, among otherthings. Additionally and/or alternatively, server 110 may be configuredto determine the one or more recommended consumers based on a socialconnection with the first consumer. For example, server 110 may beconfigured to provide social networking functionality for consumeraccounts including “friend” associations between consumers, or the like.Here, server 110 may be configured to determine one or more friends ofthe first consumer as a recommended consumer. Similarly, the consumersshown in consumer list 1002 may additionally and/or alternatively bedetermined based on relevance of the promotion to consumers based onpurchases, preferences, interests, among other things.

In some embodiments, the group promotion data received from the firstconsumer device may also include a group redemption time and/or one ormore proposed group redemption times. A “group redemption time,” as usedherein, may indicate a date and/or time of day for which the consumergroup will redeem the promotion. For example, the first consumer may beinterested in a group event, outing, or activity provided by thepromotion, such as a promotion for a discount dinner at a restaurant. Insome embodiments, the group redemption time may be provided by the firstconsumer and shared with other consumers of the consumer. In someembodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide a poll based onreceiving group promotion data indicating one or more group redemptiontimes proposed by the first consumer. For example, the poll may beconfigured to allow consumers of the consumer group to rank the one ormore proposed group redemption times provided by the first consumer, andsubsequently, to determine a group redemption time that is optimized forthe consumer group.

FIG. 11 shows an example group promotion creation display 1100, inaccordance with some embodiments. Group promotion creation display 1100may be provided to the first consumer device, such as in response to thefirst consumer selecting consumer group completion selection 1004 (e.g.,indicating that the first consumer has finished defining membership ofthe consumer group). Group promotion creation display 1100 may includeadded consumer display 1102 configured to provide an indication of theconsumers in the consumer group and/or allow the first consumer tofurther modify membership in the consumer group, such as via selection1104.

Additionally and/or alternatively, group promotion creation display 1100may include poll selection 1106 to allow the first consumer to selectwhether to initiate a poll for determining the group redemption time.For example, in response to the first consumer selecting “ON” for pollselection 1106, group promotion creation display 1100 may be configuredto provide redemption date listing 1200 (FIG. 12) to allow the firstconsumer to define the one or more proposed group redemption dates.

FIG. 12 shows an example redemption date listing 1200, in accordancewith some embodiments. Redemption date listing 1200 may include alisting of selectable redemption dates. In some embodiments, the firstconsumer may be allowed to select more than one (e.g., three) proposedredemption dates, such as shown for the Friday, May 17 selection 1202and Friday, May 24 selection 1204.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide schedulingand/or calendar services to consumers. For example, the first consumermay be allowed to view the schedule and/or calendar of other consumersand/or merchants (e.g., open reservations at a restaurant) in connectionwith selecting the one or more group redemption times, the grouppurchase threshold, the consumer group members, and/or other grouppromotion data. For example, as shown in redemption date listing 1200,Saturday, May 18 indicator 1206 may not include a selectable box or thelike because reservations with the merchant are unavailable for thatdate. Additionally and/or alternatively, server 110 may be configured todetermine whether the one or more of the proposed group redemption timeconflicts with the schedule and/or calendar of the consumers in theconsumer group. For example, upon determining a conflict, the firstconsumer may be notified to take remedial action, such as by specifyinga different group redemption time (e.g., conflicting dates may beunselectable and/or otherwise indicated as such), promotion, grouppurchase threshold, and/or consumer set for the consumer group.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to receive the grouppromotion data from the first consumer device further indicating aranking of two or more proposed group redemption times. As shown in FIG.15, for example, group promotion creation display 1500 may furtherinclude proposed group redemption time display 1512 configured to allowthe first consumer to select and rank the one or more group redemptiontimes. For example, group redemption time display 1512 indicates thatthe first consumer has selected and ranked three days in January (e.g.,1, 2 and 3, with 1 being the highest ranked) as three proposed groupredemption times.

FIG. 13 shows group promotion creation display 1100 including one ormore proposed group redemption times, in accordance with someembodiments. Upon the first consumer selecting the one or more proposedgroup redemption times (e.g., via redemption date listing 1200), the oneor more proposed group redemption times may be shown at 1304 forconfirmation by the first consumer. In some embodiments, the firstconsumer may be further allowed to provide a description, invitation, orother message for the other consumers of the consumer group, such as byentering the message in message entry 1306. Upon the proposed groupredemption times, consumer group, group sale threshold, and/or othergroup promotion data being entered to the first consumer's satisfaction,the first consumer device may be configured to send the group promotiondata to server 110, such as in response to the first consumer selectingsend selection 1308. Similarly, upon the first consumer completing eachof the data entries of group promotion creation display 1500, the firstconsumer device may be configured to send the promotion data definingthe group promotion to server 110, such as in response to the firstconsumer selecting invite selection 1514. Accordingly, server 110 may beconfigured to receive the promotion data defining the group promotionfrom the first consumer device.

FIG. 14 shows an example group promotion confirmation display 1400, inaccordance with some embodiments. Server 110 may be configured toprovide group promotion confirmation display 1400 to the first consumerdevice, such as in response to receiving the group promotion data,generating the group promotion, and/or validating the group promotiondata. As such, group promotion confirmation display 1400 may includeconfirmation message 1402 indicating that the group promotion (and/or anassociated discussion thereof) has been successfully created. In someembodiments, promotion confirmation display 1400 may further includeimage entry 1404, which may be configured to receive an image and/orreference to an image of the first consumer that can be subsequentlyprovided to other consumers of the consumer group in connection with thegroup promotion and/or impression of the group promotion. In someembodiments, the image may be provided by a third party system, such asa third party social networking system.

At 308, server 110 may be configured to create a group promotion byassociating the promotion with the plurality of consumer accounts. Forexample, the promotion and the plurality of consumer accounts may bedetermined and associated based on the group promotion data receivedfrom the first consumer device as discussed above. In some embodiments,associating the promotion with the plurality of consumer accounts may atleast partially define the parameters of the group promotion. In someembodiments, server 110 may be further configured to generate and/ordetermine a group promotion identifier that uniquely identifies thegroup promotion. Here, the data discussed herein as being associatedwith a group promotion may be associated with the group promotion viathe group promotion identifier. For example, the group promotionidentifier may be associated with the promotion via a promotionidentifier and the plurality of consumer accounts via consumer accountidentifiers.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be further configured to generateone or more placeholder consumer accounts based on the group promotiondata, such as when the group promotion data indicates a consumer thatdoes not have an existing consumer account. For example, the consumercontact information (and/or other consumer identifying information, suchas consumer name) of the group promotion data received from the firstconsumer device may be compared with consumer account information (e.g.,known contact information) of existing consumer accounts. Where a matchis found, server 110 may be configured to associate the matchingexisting consumer account with the promotion. When a match is not found,server 110 may be configured to generate a placeholder consumer accountand the placeholder consumer account may be associated with thepromotion. Upon the consumer of the placeholder consumer accountpurchasing the promotion, which may require that the consumer create anactual consumer account, the actual consumer account may be associatedwith the group promotion. For example, the placeholder consumer accountmay be converted, upgraded, replaced, or the like with the actualconsumer account. A “consumer account,” as used herein, may include anytype of data that identifies the consumer including placeholder and/oractual consumer accounts.

At 310, server 110 may be configured to determine a group sale thresholdfor the group promotion. For example, the group sale threshold mayindicate a number of purchases of the group promotion and/or agreementsto purchase the group promotion that must be exceeded by members of theconsumer group before a group discount and/or other incentive may beawarded. For example, a group sale threshold of 4 for the grouppromotion may indicate that more than four of the consumers of theconsumer group must purchase and/or otherwise agree to purchase thegroup promotion before the group discount and/or other incentive may beawarded to each of the at least four consumers. In some examples, thegroup sale threshold may be compared with the number of distinctconsumers that purchase and/or agree to purchase the group promotion. Inanother example, the group sale threshold may be based on the number ofpurchases of and/or agreements to purchase the group promotion acrossall consumers of the consumer group (e.g., a distinct consumer canpurchase the promotion multiple times with each purchase counting towardthe group sale count). In some embodiments, the group sale threshold maybe different from the number of consumers in the consumer group. Forexample, for the group sale threshold of 4, a consumer group of tenconsumers may be eligible for the group discount so long as at leastfive consumers purchase and/or agree to purchase the promotion such thatthe group sale threshold is satisfied or exceeded.

In some embodiments, the group sale threshold may be determined based onthe promotion data of the group promotion that is used as the basis forthe group promotion. For example, server 110 may be configured toreceive the group sale threshold as promotion data from merchant device108. Here, merchants may be allowed to specify the group sale thresholdat which the merchant may be willing to provide the group discount.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to determine the groupsale threshold based on the group promotion data, the promotion data ofthe promotion, and/or merchant data indicating characteristics of themerchant. For example, the group sale threshold may be smaller forpromotions of lower capacity merchants than higher capacity merchants,such as when the merchant is a dine-in restaurant with limited seating.Additionally and/or alternatively, the group sale threshold may bedetermined based on merchant supply and/or capacity. For example, thegroup sale threshold may be set based on merchant inventories, merchantavailability, consumer demand for a promotion, and/or fluctuations ofconsumer demand (e.g., within certain times of day, times of week, timesof month, times of year, etc.).

Additionally and/or alternatively, the group sale threshold may be basedon the group redemption time. For example, the group redemption time maybe compared with the merchant data to determine merchant inventories,availability, and/or consumer demand at the group redemption time. Here,the group sale threshold may be set higher based on (e.g., determined,estimated, and/or projected) higher merchant capacity at the groupredemption time. For example, a group redemption time of 6 pm for adine-in restaurant promotion may result in a lower group sale thresholdto avoid overcrowding the restaurant during peak hours. Conversely, agroup redemption time of 3 pm may result in a higher group salethreshold to entice consumers to the restaurant during non-peak hours.In another example, the group sale threshold may be set lower for groupredemption times during non-peak hours and/or when consumer demand isotherwise low to entice consumers to purchase the group promotion (e.g.,to receive the group discount).

In some embodiments, the group sale threshold may be defined by aconsumer, such as the first consumer that creates the group promotion byproviding the group promotion data. In that sense, server 110 may befurther configured (e.g., at 306) to receive the group promotion datafrom the first consumer device indicating the group sale threshold andto determine the group sale threshold based on the group promotion datareceived from the first consumer device. As shown in FIG. 15, forexample, group promotion creation display 1500 may further include groupsale threshold entry 1510. Via group sale threshold entry 1510, forexample, the first consumer may be allowed to specify the group salethreshold, such as the group sale threshold of four consumers shown atgroup sale threshold entry 1510. In some embodiments, the first consumermay be incentivized to define a larger group sale threshold by providinggreater incentives for larger group sale thresholds. In someembodiments, the group promotion may be associated with a plurality ofgroup sale thresholds, with each higher group sale threshold beingassociated with a larger incentive.

At 312, server 110 may be configured to provide an impression of thegroup promotion to a second consumer device associated with a secondconsumer account of the plurality of consumer accounts. In someembodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide the impression toeach consumer of the consumer group, such as via consumer devicesassociated with each of consumer. The impression may include a messageindicating the availability of the group promotion for acceptance and/orpurchase by the second consumer as a group promotion and/or userinterfaces for taking further action. In some embodiments, theimpression and/or other user interface may include a group discussioninterface for discussing the group promotion among members of theconsumer group. Additionally and/or alternatively, in some embodiments,the impression and/or other user interface may include a pollinginterface for receiving redemption time data from consumer devices ofthe consumer group indicating availability of the other consumer for theone or more proposed group redemption times.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to send a messageindicating the group promotion to a consumer device 108 based on thegroup promotion data provided by the first consumer device. For example,if the first consumer device provided a consumer account username and/orother consumer identifying data (e.g., name, email, telephone number,etc.) associated with a valid consumer account, server 110 may beconfigured to push a message to the second consumer device associatedwith the second consumer account.

FIG. 16 shows an example consumer application home display 1600, inaccordance with some embodiments. For example, in response to the secondconsumer accessing a consumer device application and/or a webpage, amongother things, provided by server 110, server 110 may be configured toprovide consumer application home display 1600 to the second consumerdevice. Consumer application home display 1600 may include an impressionof one or more promotions, such as the “Featured” promotions 702 and704. Furthermore, consumer application home display 1600 may includegroup discussion selection 1602. Group discussion selection 1602 mayinclude unread message indicator 1604 to provide a count of the unreadmessages from other consumers (e.g., of the consumer group for the grouppromotion and/or other group promotions) regarding group promotions. Inresponse to the consumer selecting group discussion selection 1602, theconsumer may be provided with a listing of group promotions to which theconsumer is a member.

FIG. 17 shows an example group promotion membership display 1700, inaccordance with some embodiments. Group promotion membership display1700 may be an example of a user interface provided to the secondconsumer device, such as in response to the second consumer selectinggroup discussion selection 1602 in consumer application home display1600. Group promotion listing 1700 may include a display of selectablegroup promotions to which the second consumer is a member, such as grouppromotion 1704.

FIG. 18 shows an example group discussion interface 1800, in accordancewith some embodiments. Server 110 may be configured to provide groupdiscussion interface 1800 to consumer devices, such as in response to aconsumer selecting the group promotion in group promotion listing 1700,among other things. Group discussion interface 1800 may include atexting, messaging and/or chat room type interface for receivingconsumer discussion messages. For example, a consumer may provide amessage at message input 1802, which may be provided (e.g., in achronological order) to other consumers of the consumer group for thegroup promotion via message feed 1804. Here, consumers may plan,organize, debate, or otherwise discuss the group promotion and/or anyother topic related to the group promotion (e.g., group redemption timesand/or consumer availability, among other things).

In some embodiments, changes in the status of the group promotion may beprovided to group discussion interface 1800. For example, message feed1806 may include news items or other updates, such as purchase message1806 indicating that a consumer has purchased the promotion. Otherexample items that may be displayed on message feed 1806 and/or groupdiscussion interface 1800 may include updates indicating that a consumerhas agreed to purchase the group promotion, the (e.g., updated) groupsale count and/or the group sale threshold, the progress to meeting thegroup sale threshold (e.g., as shown at 1808), the group redemptiontime, proposed redemption times, proposed redemption time pollingresults, and/or among other things.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to send the impressiondirectly using consumer contact data (e.g., email, telephone number,etc.) provided by the first consumer, such as by using a suitablecommunication channel for the consumer contact data. In someembodiments, server 110 may be configured to determine that the consumercontact data is not associated with a known consumer account, and inresponse, may be configured to provide the impression using the consumercontact data. In that sense, consumers that do not have consumeraccounts may be added to a consumer group for a group promotion.Additionally and/or alternatively, such consumers may be furtherincentivized by the group promotion and/or group discount to create aconsumer account. For example, server 110 may be configured to requireunregistered consumers to create a consumer account before participatingin the group promotion (e.g., participating in a discussion, poll, grouppromotion purchase, and/or agreement to purchase the group promotion).

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to use any othersuitable communication channel for sharing the group promotion, such asemail, instant message, social networking system, the on-demand grouppromotion service, a user interface provided by server 110, or the like.For example, where email is used, server 110 may be configured toreceive the group promotion data in the form of email addresses. In someembodiments, the group promotion data received from the first consumerto define the consumer group may include one or more different forms ofconsumer contact information and server 110 may be further configured toprovide the impression of the promotion to the consumer group using oneor more different communication channels as suitable for the consumercontact information (e.g., email channel for an email address, SMS textfor a telephone number, etc.).

FIG. 19 shows an example of a text message 1900, in accordance with someembodiments. In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to sendan SMS text message and/or other text message notification to the secondconsumer device using a telephone number (e.g., as provided by the firstconsumer). For example, text message 1900 may include message 1902(e.g., the message provided by the first consumer in message entry 1306shown in FIG. 13) and reference 1904 (e.g., a hyperlink) to animpression of the group promotion

FIG. 20 shows an example impression 2000, in accordance with someembodiments. Impression 2000 may be accessed by selecting reference 1904in text message 1900, which in some embodiments, may cause the secondconsumer device to launch a web browser and/or consumer application toaccess impression 2000. Impression 2000 may include promotion 2002indicating promotion data about the promotion. The second consumer maybe allowed to take further action, such as by logging in and/or creatinga consumer account using sign in/up selection 2004. In some embodiments,the consumer may be allowed to access a consumer account via a thirdparty account provided by a third party system (e.g., a socialnetworking system). For example, in response to the second consumerselecting third party account login 2006, the second consumer may beallowed to access a consumer account or a placeholder consumer accountusing third party login data.

FIG. 21 shows an example group discussion interface 2100, in accordancewith some embodiments. The discussion above regarding group discussioninterface 1800 may be applicable to group discussion interface 2100.However, group discussion interface 2100 is shown as being accessed by aweb browser whereas group discussion interface 1800 is shown as beingaccessed by a consumer application. In general, any suitable interfaceand/or communication channels for providing a group discussion may beused. For example, the group discussion interface may be part of asocial networking system wall, newsfeed, timeline, or the like. Inanother example, consumers may be allowed to discuss group promotionsdirectly using SMS text messages. In some embodiments, various consumerscan use different communications channels. Server 110 may be configuredto aggregate communications from each channel and/or provide thecommunications to the consumer group using different channels as may besuitable for different consumers.

FIG. 22 shows an example impression 2200, in accordance with someembodiments. Impression 2200 illustrates some of the other grouppromotion data that may be included in an impression. For example,impression 2200 may include promotion 2202, promotion description 2204,group sale threshold 2206, group discount 2208 (e.g., as discussed infurther detail below in connection with FIG. 4), consumer groupmembership 2210, group sale count 2212 (e.g., as discussed in furtherdetail below in connection with FIG. 4). In some embodiments, impression2200 may further include the group redemption time, one or more proposedgroup redemption times, a group redemption time poll, group redemptiontime poll results and/or other data related to the discussion, purchase,and/or redemption of the group promotion.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be further configured to provide theimpression via a social networking system (e.g., provided by system 102and/or a third party system). With reference to group promotion creationdisplay 1100 shown in FIG. 11, for example, the first consumer mayselect social networking system share selection 1110. In response to thefirst consumer selecting “ON” for social networking system shareselection 1110, server 110 may be configured to post the impressionand/or a reference to the impression to first consumer's socialnetworking feed, newsfeed, timeline, profile page, and/or among otherthings. Returning to FIG. 3, Method 300 may then end at 314.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a method 400 for providing a group discountof a group promotion, in accordance with some embodiments. Method 400 isdescribed as being performed by system 102 (e.g., server 110), however,other suitable structures (e.g., one or more servers, a networkeddevice, hardware, software, firmware, circuitry, etc.) may also be usedin various embodiments. In some embodiments, method 400 may be performedafter method 300, such as after the impression of the promotion is sentto one or more consumer devices (e.g., the second consumer device asdiscussed in method 300) associated with the consumer accounts definedby the consumer group.

Method 400 may begin at 402 and proceed to 404, where server 110 may beconfigured to determine a group sale count indicating a number of theconsumers of the consumer group that has provided a purchase agreement.A “purchase agreement,” as used herein, refers to a purchase and/oracceptance of the group promotion (e.g. an agreement to purchase thegroup promotion at a subsequent time). For example, the group sale countmay begin at 1 (e.g., for the first consumer if the first consumer haspurchased the group promotion and/or agreed to purchase the grouppromotion) and may be incremented each time a unique consumer of theconsumer group purchases and/or agrees to purchase the group promotion.In that sense, server 110 may be configured to track purchases of thegroup promotion by members of the consumer group.

In some embodiments, only consumers that actually purchase the grouppromotion may contribute to the group sale count. In other embodiments,consumers that agree to purchase the group promotion (e.g., but are notyet charged) may additionally and/or alternatively contribute to thegroup sale count. In general, the type of consumer activity thatcontributes to the group sale count may be based on the type of activityspecified for exceeding the group sale threshold.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide a userinterface to consumer devices for providing the purchase agreement. Forexample, the impression, message, and/or notification indicating thegroup promotion sent to the second consumer device at 312 of method 300may include the user interface and/or a reference to the user interface.As shown in FIGS. 18 and 21, group discussion interfaces 1800 and 2100may respectively include buy selection 1810 and buy selection 2102. Inanother example shown in FIG. 22, impression 2200 may include buyselection 2214.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be further configured to determine apurchase price for the promotion. The purchase price, for example, maybe determined based on the promotion data of the promotion, such aspromotion data received from merchant device 108. In some embodiments,the purchase price may represent a discount defined by the promotionwhen the promotion is purchased on an individual basis, such as adiscount from the regular price (e.g., the retail, standard, and/orotherwise non-discounted price) of a good, service and/or experiencedefined by the promotion. Server 110 may be further configured toprovide the group promotion for the purchase price and determine thegroup sale count indicating the number of the consumers (e.g., of theconsumer group) that has purchased the group promotion for the purchaseprice.

At 406, server 110 may be configured to determine whether the group salecount satisfies the group sale threshold for the group promotion. Forexample, the group sale threshold may be determined as discussed at 310of method 300, and the group sale count may satisfy the group salethreshold when the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold.Also discussed above, the group sale count may be incremented each timethe group promotion is purchased by a consumer of the group consumerand/or a unique consumer of the group consumer. Furthermore, server 110may be configured to monitor group promotions and their group salecounts to take appropriate action upon the group sale count of a grouppromotion satisfying the group sale threshold, such as by providing astatus update for the group promotion via a discussion interface and/orother message to consumers.

In some embodiments, consumers may be provided with a limited timeperiod in which to purchase and/or agree to purchase the grouppromotion. Here, the determination at 406 may be performed upon lapse ofthe limited time period.

In response to determining that that the group sale count fails tosatisfy the group sale threshold, method 400 may return to 404, whereserver 110 may be configured to continue monitoring the purchases ofand/or agreements to purchase the promotion by consumers of the consumerand increment the group sale count when appropriate.

In response to determining that that the group sale count satifisfiesthe group sale threshold, method 400 may proceed to 408, where server110 may be configured to associate a group discount with each of theplurality of consumer accounts. The group discount may represent anadditional discount to incentivize consumers to purchase the promotionas a group. In that sense, the group discount may be applied to thepurchase price for the promotion, which as discussed above, may itselfrepresent a discount from the regular price of the good, service and/orexperience defined by the promotion.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to determine the groupdiscount, such as a group discount value for the group discount. Forexample, the group discount value may be received as promotion data,such as from merchant device 108 of a merchant providing the promotiondefined by the promotion data. In some embodiments, server 110 may beconfigured to determine the group discount and/or group discount valuebased on the group promotion data received from a consumer device (e.g.,at 306 of method 300) and/or generated by server 110. For example, thegroup discount may be determined based on the group sale count and/orgroup sale threshold. For example, a larger group discount may bedetermined for larger group sale counts and/or group sale thresholds toencourage more consumers to purchase the group promotion. Additionallyand/or alternatively, different consumers and/or their consumer accountsmay be associated with different group discounts. For example, the firstconsumer that creates the group promotion may be awarded with a largergroup discount than other consumers who only purchase and/or accept thepromotion. In another example, the group discount may depend on thepurchase order of the consumer or the timing of the purchase. Forexample, earlier purchasers may be associated with a larger groupdiscount to encourage early purchase, discussion, polling, among otherthings.

At 410, server 110 may be configure to determine at least one purchasedconsumer account of the plurality of consumer accounts of a consumerthat has purchased the group promotion. For example, each consumer ofthe consumer group that has purchased the group promotion may bedetermined to be associated with a purchased consumer account.

At 412, server 110 may be configured to provide the group discount as acredit and/or refund for at least a portion of a purchase price for thepromotion to the at least one purchased consumer account. For example,the consumer may have purchased the group promotion for the (e.g.,non-group-discounted) purchase price of the promotion prior to the groupsale count satisfying the group sale threshold. Here, one or more of thepurchasing consumers may be awarded at least a portion of the purchaseprice of the underlying promotion, as defined by the group discount.

In some embodiments, the group discount or some portion thereof may beprovided as a credit to a consumer account. For example, after awardingthe credit to the consumer account, server 118 may be configured toaccept the credit toward at least a portion of a future promotion and/orgroup promotion purchase. Alternatively and/or additionally, the groupdiscount or some portion thereof may be provided as a refund, such as amonetary value for at least a portion of the purchase price of theunderlying promotion, as defined by the group discount. In someembodiments, the group discount or some portion thereof may be providedin the form of a reward, prize, a second promotion, and/or otherincentive value.

At 414, server 110 may be configured to determine at least oneunpurchased consumer account of the plurality of consumer accounts of aconsumer that has failed to purchase the group promotion. For example, aconsumer may be determined to be associated with an unpurchased consumeraccount after failing to purchase the group promotion, such as by merelyagreeing to purchase the group promotion and/or by otherwise notpurchasing the group promotion.

At 416, server 110 may be configured to provide the group discount as adiscounted purchase price for the group promotion to the at least oneunpurchased consumer account. For example, in some embodiments, server110 may be configured to associate the group discount with each of theplurality of consumer accounts of the consumer group at 408, includingthose consumer accounts that have yet to purchase the group promotionand/or agree to purchase the group promotion when the group sale countsatisfied the group sale threshold (e.g., as determined at 408). Here,rather than providing a credit, refund, or the like after charging thepurchase price of the underlying promotion, the unpurchased consumersmay be allowed to purchase the group promotion for the discountedpurchase price because the consumer group has successfully satisfied thegroup sale threshold.

In some embodiments, such as when the group sale count and group salethreshold are based on consumers that agree to purchase the grouppromotion, and when the group sale threshold is satisfied by the groupsale count, each consumer that agreed to purchase the group promotionmay be automatically charged (e.g., via a credit card account or otherfinancial account) the discounted purchase price of the group promotion.Method 400 may then end at 412.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method 500 for determining a groupredemption time based on a poll, in accordance with some embodiments.Method 500 is described as being performed by system 102 (e.g., server110), however, other suitable structures (e.g., one or more servers, anetworked device, hardware, software, firmware, circuitry, etc.) mayalso be used in various embodiments.

Method 500 may begin at 502 and proceed to 504, where server 110 may beconfigured to provide an impression of a group promotion to a secondconsumer device associated with a second consumer account of theplurality of consumer accounts, the impression including a userinterface for discussing the group promotion and one or more proposedgroup redemption times. The discussion at 306 of method 300 may beapplicable at 504. For example, server 110 may be configured to receivethe one or more proposed redemption times from the first consumer deviceas a portion of the group promotion data. Additionally and/oralternatively, the impression including the one or more proposedredemption times may be provided in response to the first consumerinitiating a poll, such as by selecting poll selection 1106 in grouppromotion creation display 1100. In some embodiments, the discussion at312 of method 300 may also be applicable at 504.

FIG. 23 shows an example group discussion interface 2300, in accordancewith some embodiments. The discussion above regarding group discussioninterfaces 1800 and/or 2100 may be applicable to group discussioninterface 2300. For example, group discussion interface 2300 may beprovided to consumer devices associated with consumers of the consumergroup. Group discussion interface 2300 may further include groupredemption time poll selection 2302, configured to allow the consumersto vote on the one or more proposed redemption times provided by thefirst consumer (e.g., at 306 of method 300).

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to facilitate planningof a group event or activity. For example, one or more consumers of theconsumer group (e.g., the first consumer) may be determined to be agroup administrator or leader. The first consumer that defines the grouppromotion may be given administrator status by default and/or may beallowed to designate other consumers as administrators. The groupadministrator(s) may be allowed to add consumers to the consumer group,remove consumers from the consumer group, cancel the group promotion,update the group redemption time and/or a proposed group redemptiontime, change the group sale threshold, among other things.

At 506, server 110 may be configured to receive redemption time datafrom the second consumer device indicating availability of the secondconsumer for the one or more proposed group redemption times. FIG. 24shows an example polling interface 2400, in accordance with someembodiments. Polling interface 2400 may be provided to a consumer devicein response to a consumer selecting group redemption time poll selection2302 in group discussion interface 2300. Via polling interface 2400, thesecond consumer may be allowed to generate the redemption time dataindicating which of the one or more proposed group redemption times areavailable for the second consumer. For example, polling interface 2400shows that Friday, May 17 selection 2402 has been selected to indicateavailability and Friday, May 24 selection 2404 has been unselected toindicate unavailability. In some embodiments, the second user may alsobe allowed to rank the one or more proposed group redemption times,which may also be provided to server 110 as part of the redemption timedata. In response to the second consumer selecting send redemption dataselection, the second consumer device may be configured to send theredemption data to server 110.

At 508, server 110 may be configured to determine the group redemptiontime for the group promotion based at least in part on the redemptiontime data. For example, server 110 may be configured to determine thegroup redemption time as a time that best fits the consumer group asdetermined by the redemption time data received from the consumers ofthe consumer group.

In some embodiments, such as when the consumers have ranked the one ormore proposed redemption times, server 110 may be configured toprogrammatically determine the proposed redemption time by generating agroup redemption time score for each proposed group redemption timebased on the rankings. For example, in a consumer group of fourconsumers and for four proposed group redemption times, the redemptiontime data may indicate the following:

Consumer 1 (Organizer):

-   -   1: January 24, 7:30    -   2: January 24, 8:30    -   3: January 26, 2:15    -   4: January: 26, 8:30

Consumer 2:

-   -   1: January 24, 7:30    -   2: January 26, 8:30    -   3: January 26, 2:15    -   4: January 24, 8:30

Consumer 3:

-   -   1: January 26, 2:15    -   2: January 24, 8:30    -   3: January 26, 8:30    -   Cannot attend: January 24, 7:30

Consumer 4:

-   -   1: January 24, 8:30    -   2: January 26, 8.30    -   Cannot attend: January 24, 7:30, January 26, 2:15

Here, for example, the consumer 1 (e.g., the first consumer) hasindicated that the January 24, 7:30 redemption time is the mostpreferred redemption time for the first consumer (e.g., rank=1), theJanuary 24, 8:30 redemption time as the second most preferred redemptiontime (e.g., rank=1), the January 26, 2:15 redemption time as the thirdmost preferred redemption time (e.g., rank=3), and so forth. Consumer 4(e.g., a second consumer) has indicated that the January 24, 7:30 andJanuary 26, 2:16 redemption times are unavailable. Here, the rank may bedetermined as 1+(the number of total proposed redemption times). Forexample, because there are 4 total proposed redemption times, the rankfor an unavailable indication may be determined as 5.

In some embodiments, the group redemption time score S for each proposedgroup redemption time T may be given by Equation 1:

S(T)=Σ_(n=1) ^(M) rank(T, n)/M,

where rank(T, n) is the rank for the nth consumer of the consumer groupfor proposed redemption time T, and M is the total number of consumers(e.g., that have provided redemption time data) of the consumer group.

Applying Equation 1 to the example redemption time data above, forexample, the group redemption scores for each group may be determinedas:

S(January 24, 7:30)=(1+1+5+5)/4=3

S(January 24, 8:30)=(2+4+2+5)/4=3.25

S(January 26, 2:15)=(3+3+1+5)/4=3

S(January 26, 8:30)=(4+2+3+2)/4=2.75

Here, the January 26, 8:30 group redemption time may be determined asthe group redemption time because it includes the best (e.g., lowestvalued) group redemption time score S(T).

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to determine the groupredemption time by optimizing for maximum number of available consumersand then the best group redemption time score. For example, the groupredemption time scores and availability may be determined from theredemption time data discussed above as:

S(January 24, 7:30)=(1+1+5+5)/4=3; 2 of 4 consumers available

S(January 24, 8:30)=(2+4+2+5)/4=3.25; all 4 consumers available

S(January 26, 2:15)=(3+3+1+5)/4=3; 3 of 4 consumers available

S(January 26, 8:30)=(4+2+3+2)/4=2.75; all 4 consumers available

Here, the January 24, 8:30 and January 26, 8:30 proposed groupredemption times may be first selected as viable candidates because theyinclude the maximum number of available consumers. Next, the best groupredemption time score among the selected proposed group redemption timesmay be determined as the group redemption time. For example, the January26, 8:30 proposed group redemption time (S=2.75) may be selected overthe January 24, 8:30 group redemption time (S=3.25) based on the groupredemption time scores.

In some embodiments, where the analysis above results in a tie betweentwo or more proposed group redemption times, server 110 may beconfigured to select the group redemption time based on thehighest-ranking time for the first consumer (e.g., the organizer) amongthe two or more proposed group redemptions.

In some embodiments, if a determined group redemption time isunavailable for the merchant (e.g., no reservations available), then oneor more proposed redemption times list may be traversed (e.g., in rankedorder) until the highest ranking group redemption time (e.g., thatsatisfies the group sale threshold) may be selected as the groupredemption time. In that sense, server 110 may be further configured tocommunicate with a merchant device and/or merchant system (e.g.,merchant device 108) to determine available reservation times for themerchant.

At 510, server 110 may be configured to provide the group redemptiontime to the second consumer device. For example, the determined groupredemption time may be provided to consumer devices associated with eachconsumer of the consumer group. In some embodiments, the groupredemption time may be provided via a group discussion interface (e.g.,group discussion interfaces 1800, 2100, and/or 2300), such as within amessage feed 1806 shown in FIG. 18.

At 512, server 110 may be configured to provide the group redemptiontime to a merchant device for reservation. For example, the groupredemption time may be provided to merchant device 108 via network 104shown in FIG. 1. Merchant device 108 may be further configured toschedule a reservation for the consumer group at the group redemptiontime. In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured to provide anyadditional information suitable in creating the reservation. Forexample, server 110 may provide the number of consumers that willattend, various consumer preferences, special accommodations, and/oramong other things. Method 500 may then proceed to 514 and end.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a method 600 for providing a group promotionto a consumer group based on a group promotion identifier, in accordancewith some embodiments. Method 600 is described as being performed bysystem 102 (e.g., server 110), however, other suitable structures (e.g.,one or more servers, a networked device, hardware, software, firmware,circuitry, etc.) may also be used in various embodiments.

Method 600 may being at 602 and proceed to 604, where server 110 may beconfigured to receive group promotion data indicating a group promotionfrom the first consumer device associated with the first consumerdevice. The discussion at 306 of method 300 may be applicable at 604.The group promotion data may, but does not necessarily, indicate otherconsumers to be included within the consumer group. Server 110 may befurther configured to associate the promotion with the first consumeraccount of the first consumer such that the first consumer is added tothe consumer group.

At 606, server 110 may be configured to determine a group sale thresholdfor the group promotion. The discussion at 310 of method 300 may beapplicable at 606, and is not repeated to avoid unnecessarilyovercomplicating the disclosure. Furthermore, the group sale thresholdmay indicate a number of purchases of the promotion that must besatisfied by consumers that provide the group promotion identifier(discussed in further detail below) in connection with a purchase of thepromotion before a group discount and/or other incentive may be awarded

At 608, server 110 may be configured to determine a group promotionidentifier for the group promotion. The group promotion identifier mayinclude a token, code, key, and/or other data that uniquely identifiesthe group promotion. In some embodiments, the group promotion identifiermay at least partially include random or pseudorandom code, such as maybe generated by server 110. Furthermore, in some embodiments, thepromotion (e.g., as defined by promotion data) and other data discussedherein associated with the promotion (e.g., the group promotion data)may be associated via the group promotion identifier.

At 610, server 110 may be configured to provide the group promotionidentifier to consumers. For example, server 110 may provide the grouppromotion identifier to the first consumer device. The first consumerdevice may then be configured to share the group promotion identifierwith other consumer devices associated with other consumers. In anotherexample, server 110 may be configured to provide the group promotionidentifier to a second consumer device associated with a secondconsumer, such as in connection with the impression of the promotion asdiscussed at 312 of method 300. Here, the group promotion data receivedat 604 may indicate one or more other consumers including the secondconsumer and/or consumer contact information for the one or more otherconsumers.

At 612, server 110 may be configured to receive the group promotionidentifier in connection with a purchase (and/or acceptance) of thegroup promotion from a second consumer device associated with a secondconsumer account and/or second consumer. For example, server 110 may beconfigured to provide a user interface for purchase of the grouppromotion that is further configured to receive the group promotionidentifier. Where a valid group promotion identifier is not received,the purchase of the promotion may be treated as a regular purchaseseparate from a group promotion. In another example, such as where theconsumer group is predefined, server 110 may be configured toauthenticate the consumer and/or otherwise confirm consumer membershipto the consumer group based on the group promotion identifier.

At 614, server 110 may be configured to associate the group promotionwith the second consumer account. For example, the second consumer maybe added to the consumer group. In some embodiments, the group promotionidentifier may be received in connection with consumer account creationinstead of, or in addition to, purchase of the promotion, such as whenthe second consumer is a new user. Here, server 110 may be configured toassociate the promotion with the second consumer account after consumeraccount creation, such that the second consumer may be added to theconsumer group even when the second consumer has not purchased or hasnot yet purchased the group promotion.

At 616, server 110 may be configured to increment the group sale countafter the second consumer account and/or second consumer has purchased(and/or agreed to purchase) the group promotion. The discussion at 404of method 400 may be applicable at 616, and is not repeated to avoidunnecessarily overcomplicating the disclosure. Method 600 may then endat 618.

CONCLUSION

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to mind to oneskilled in the art to which these embodiments pertain having the benefitof the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and theassociated drawings. For example, the techniques discussed hereininvolving a providing group promotions may easily be extended to othercontexts where goods, services, and/or experiencs may be offered togroups of consumers. Therefore, it is to be understood that embodimentsand implementations are not to be limited to the specific exampleembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

1.-21. (canceled)
 22. A computer-implemented method comprising:providing, via a network, a user interface configured to display, at afirst device associated with a first account, one or more promotions,the user interface allowing the first device to create consumer groupsassociated with group promotions based on the one or more promotions;receiving group promotion data from the first device, the grouppromotion data including group definition data of a group promotion fora consumer group based on a selected promotion of the one or morepromotions, the group definition data including identifiers associatedwith the first account and one or more selected additional accounts toadd to the consumer group; retrieving, from a remote cloud computing anddata storage system, the one or more selected additional accounts basedon the identifiers; storing, at the remote cloud computing and datastorage system, information indicative of the selected promotion withthe first account and the one or more selected additional accounts,wherein the storing comprises: tracking a number of purchases of thegroup promotion by the consumer group during the time period;determining that the number of purchases of the group promotion by theconsumer group during the time period satisfies a group sale threshold;and in a circumstance in which the number of purchases of the grouppromotion by the consumer group during the time period satisfies thegroup sale threshold, associating a group discount with the firstaccount and the one or more selected additional accounts.
 23. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the group salethreshold is determined based on one or more of: merchant dataindicating characteristics of the merchant, merchant supply data,merchant capacity data.
 24. The computer-implemented method of claim 22,wherein the group sale threshold is determined based on consumer demandfor a promotion within certain times of day, times of week, times ofmonth, or times of year.
 25. The computer-implemented method of claim22, wherein the group sale threshold is determined based on a groupredemption time, wherein the group redemption time is compared withmerchant data to determine merchant inventories at the group redemptiontime.
 26. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the groupsale threshold is determined based on a group redemption time, whereinthe group redemption time is compared with merchant data to determinemerchant availability at the group redemption time.
 27. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the group salethreshold is determined based on a group redemption time, wherein thegroup redemption time is compared with merchant data to determineconsumer demand at the group redemption time.
 28. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 22, further comprising: receiving,from the first device, data defining the one or more selected additionalaccounts for the consumer group by providing consumer contactinformation.
 29. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, whereinthe user interface further includes a polling interface for receivingredemption time data from devices associated with the consumer groupindicating availability for one or more proposed group redemption times.30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the pollinginterface includes the one or more proposed group redemption times,wherein a group redemption time is determined based on answers receivedfrom the devices associated with the consumer group.
 31. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the one or moreproposed group redemption times are determined by: communicating with amerchant device to determine available reservation times for theconsumer group.
 32. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, whereinthe user interface includes a communication interface for allowingdevices associated with the consumer group to exchange communicationassociated with the group promotion.
 33. A computer program productcomprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, thecomputer-executable program code instructions comprising program codeinstructions for: providing, via a network, a user interface configuredto display, at a first device associated with a first account, one ormore promotions, the user interface allowing the first device to createconsumer groups associated with group promotions based on the one ormore promotions; receiving group promotion data from the first device,the group promotion data including group definition data of a grouppromotion for a consumer group based on a selected promotion of the oneor more promotions, the group definition data including identifiersassociated with the first account and one or more selected additionalaccounts to add to the consumer group; retrieving, from a remote cloudcomputing and data storage system, the one or more selected additionalaccounts based on the identifiers; storing, at the remote cloudcomputing and data storage system, information indicative of theselected promotion with the first account and the one or more selectedadditional accounts, wherein the storing comprises: tracking a number ofpurchases of the group promotion by the consumer group during the timeperiod; determining that the number of purchases of the group promotionby the consumer group during the time period satisfies a group salethreshold; and in a circumstance in which the number of purchases of thegroup promotion by the consumer group during the time period satisfiesthe group sale threshold, associating a group discount with the firstaccount and the one or more selected additional accounts.
 34. Thecomputer program product of claim 33, wherein the group sale thresholdis determined based on one or more of: merchant data indicatingcharacteristics of the merchant, merchant supply data, merchant capacitydata.
 35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the groupsale threshold is determined based on consumer demand for a promotionwithin certain times of day, times of week, times of month, or times ofyear.
 36. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the groupsale threshold is determined based on a group redemption time, whereinthe group redemption time is compared with merchant data to determinemerchant inventories at the group redemption time.
 37. The computerprogram product of claim 33, wherein the group sale threshold isdetermined based on a group redemption time, wherein the groupredemption time is compared with merchant data to determine merchantavailability at the group redemption time.
 38. The computer programproduct of claim 33, wherein the group sale threshold is determinedbased on a group redemption time, wherein the group redemption time iscompared with merchant data to determine consumer demand at the groupredemption time.
 39. The computer program product of claim 33, whereinthe user interface further includes a polling interface for receivingredemption time data from devices associated with the consumer groupindicating availability for one or more proposed group redemption times.40. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein the pollinginterface includes the one or more proposed group redemption times,wherein a group redemption time is determined based on answers receivedfrom the devices associated with the consumer group.
 41. An apparatuscomprising at least one processor and at least one memory includingcomputer program code, the at least one memory and the computer programcode configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:provide, via a network, a user interface configured to display, at afirst device associated with a first account, one or more promotions,the user interface allowing the first device to create consumer groupsassociated with group promotions based on the one or more promotions;receive group promotion data from the first device, the group promotiondata including group definition data of a group promotion for a consumergroup based on a selected promotion of the one or more promotions, thegroup definition data including identifiers associated with the firstaccount and one or more selected additional accounts to add to theconsumer group; retrieve, from a remote cloud computing and data storagesystem, the one or more selected additional accounts based on theidentifiers; store, at the remote cloud computing and data storagesystem, information indicative of the selected promotion with the firstaccount and the one or more selected additional accounts, wherein thestoring comprises: tracking a number of purchases of the group promotionby the consumer group during the time period; determining that thenumber of purchases of the group promotion by the consumer group duringthe time period satisfies a group sale threshold; and in a circumstancein which the number of purchases of the group promotion by the consumergroup during the time period satisfies the group sale threshold,associating a group discount with the first account and the one or moreselected additional accounts.